Israel ‘disappointed’ at European inaction on Iran, FM says
“We were disappointed to see our friends, the E3 countries, not voting to extend the arms embargo on Iran and thus prevent its adoption,” Ashkenazi said.
By LAHAV HARKOVUK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab meets Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi on his arrival in Israel, August 25, 2020
European states must take action to curb Iranian aggression, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said in his meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Tuesday.“We were disappointed to see our friends, the E3 countries, not voting to extend the arms embargo on Iran and thus prevent its adoption,” Ashkenazi said.The E3 – France, the UK and Germany – are the three European countries that were party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. France and the UK voted against the extension of a UN arms embargo on Iran earlier this month; the embargo ends on October 18. The EU’s arms embargo on Iran will stay in place until 2023.The US then invoked “snapback sanctions” on Thursday, which are meant to automatically extend the embargo even without the support of the UN Security Council. The E3, Russia and China argued that the US does not have the right to do so, because it left the JCPOA in 2018, but the US has pointed out that the snapback mechanism is in UNSC Resolution 2231, a separate document from the JCPOA.Ashkenazi said some UN Security Council members are not only not advancing its goal to “increase peace and security in the world;” rather, when it relates to Iran, they are undermining world security.“The E3 must understand that genuine opposition to Iranian aggression and concern for the security of the region can not only be heard in statements but must also be seen in action,” he said, calling for them to support the American position for the sake of global security.Ashkenazi pointed out that Iran’s response to the announced normalization between the United Arab Emirates and Israel was to threaten the UAE with an attack.“For Iran, peace and stability is a bad thing,” he stated.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also emphasized Iran in his meeting with Raab, saying: “Look at Iran’s aggression today, without nuclear weapons. What a huge danger it will be for the whole world if it will have nuclear weapons.”A source in the meeting said the prime minister told Raab the UK should change its whole approach to Iran and align itself more with the Americans, because Iran is a threat to them, as well.
Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Raab that “a route must be found to reimpose an arms embargo on Iran, which is undermining regional stability and continuing to pursue its nuclear armament program.”Ashkenazi also thanked Raab for the UK’s recognition of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, and in that vein asked him to support Israeli and American efforts to have the UNSC give the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) a more robust mandate.Ashkenazi asked that the UK “demand from the Lebanese government that UNIFIL be given full access to southern Lebanon, so its reports to the international community will present a true and accurate picture of the situation, and not one that ignores the power and role of Hezbollah.”The UNSC is expected to vote on whether to extend UNIFIL’s mandate in the coming weeks, and the US is expected to veto it, dismantling the force, unless it is given greater authority and access.Raab said on Twitter that he expressed the UK’s “enduring friendship” to Ashkenazi, and that they discussed “the significance of normalizations of UAE-Israel relations and efforts towards greater peace in the Middle East.”This was Raab’s first visit to Israel as foreign secretary, and a source in one of Raab’s meetings with Israeli officials said he sought to understand Israel’s positions on the issues.The UK Foreign Office said ahead of Raab’s trip that he plans to focus on bringing Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, toward a two-state solution.Ashkenazi, however, only briefly mentioned the Palestinians, saying they “must abandon their traditional policy of refusal and return to negotiations on the basis of the Trump initiative.”Gantz called on the Palestinians to restart security cooperation as well as negotiations with Israel.Netanyahu explained to Raab that the Trump peace plan is the only fair initiative, and Gantz called on the Palestinians to restart security cooperation as well as negotiations with Israel.Raab had emphasized the fact that Israel suspended its plans to extend sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria in favor of the normalization agreement with the UAE, calling it a step toward peace in the Middle East.“It is now time for both sides to come together and engage in the dialogue to deliver the negotiated two-state solution that can secure lasting peace, security and justice for both Israelis and the Palestinians,” he said.Raab also planned to call on the Palestinians to resume cooperation and direct negotiations with Israel in his meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh in Ramallah.Renegotiating the trade deal between Israel and the UK also came up in the meetings. Israel was one of the first countries to sign a trade agreement with Great Britain as it left the European Union, but the agreement is nearly identical to the EU agreement, and the sides seek to strike a deal that is more specific to the nature of trade between the countries. The UK is Israel’s third-largest trading partner.Strategic Affairs Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen brought up cases of delegitimization of Israel in the UK, including the fourth attack in as many weeks on the London offices of Elbit Systems, when she took part in Gantz’s meeting with Raab.Raab told her that the British government is committed to stopping the attacks.The UK Foreign Secretary met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was also in Jerusalem, on Monday night. He described the meeting on Twitter as a “valuable discussion... on mutual concerns and threats to regional stability, alongside the importance of the Israel-UAE deal.”Pompeo, like Israeli officials, had a different focus, tweeting that the meeting was an “important opportunity to discuss President Trump’s Vision for Peace and Iran.”